Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of crowd simulation in computer software and, more specifically, to animating collision-free sequences of motions for objects placed across a surface of a graphics object.
Description of the Related Art
Crowd simulation is the process of simulating a crowd having a large number of objects placed within a computer-generated crowd area. Typically, a graphics designer places the objects within the crowd area via manual selection of a different location onto which each object should be placed. The graphics designer is then faced with the task of animating each of the objects so that they behave and interact with one another in a natural manner. According to conventional approaches, the graphics designer selects each object and then applies a particular animation to the object, e.g., a guard standing post at an entrance. However, manual application of animations creates a variety of problems that are exacerbated as the number of objects placed within the crowd area increases.
One problem is that the graphics designer must ensure that the objects, when animated according to the animation applied thereto, do not collide with one another. The graphics designer must also ensure that the animated objects behave in a diversified manner in order to promote a natural feeling to the crowd area, which is especially difficult when working with long animations that include a number of different behaviors. These types of issues require the graphics designer to make a large number of passes through the animation and continuously fine-tune the animations of each object. What results is a tedious and cumbersome process for the graphics designer.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is an improved technique for animating objects within a crowd area in computer-generated crowd simulation.